Johnson Signs; Tampering hearing held

The good news that former Cardinal wide receiver Bryant Johnson signed a one-year deal was obscured by the tampering hearing involving the Bears and 49ers at the NFL offices in New York.

Chicago charged the 49ers with tampering when the two teams nearly made a trade for linebacker Lance Briggs just before the trade deadline last October. One source said that Briggs’ agent Drew Rosenhaus told the Bears the 49ers had offered a better deal when he was negotiating a contract for Briggs with Chicago.

Briggs was still under contract at that point. If those allegations can be proved, the 49ers might have to surrender a draft pick as punishment. The proposed trade for Briggs apparently involved draft picks.

It’s unlikely any decision will be made today by the league.

Player signed: Filling out their training camp roster, the team signed Qasim Mitchell. He instantly becomes the biggest man on the roster at 6-5, 347 pounds. He played in 21 games with 16 starts in four years with the Bears. In the last two summers, he has been in training camps with the Panthers and Cardinals respectively, but didn’t make either team.

Congratulations to Castcore94, NinerMattNC and Steve Soto. They had their Saturday posts on Darrell Jackson’s release featured in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle.